Ε. LOAD-BEARING MASONRY REINFORCEMENTS

18 CHAPTER E: ' LOAD-BEARING MASONRY REINFORCEMENTS' With the addition of the possibility of tensile reinforcement, this criterion has been changed and if the tensile reinforcement is sufficient, as we will see below, all other checks are now performed. OBSERVATION: There is one small detail that needs to be clarified. In the program up to now where tensile occurred, the combination with the corresponding worst tensile axial (positive) was listed. Now, when tensile occurs in even one combination, the designation is listed in the corresponding field BUT the number of the combination and the corresponding line items do not belong to the tensile combination but to the combination that gives the worst ratio in the in-plane adequacy check (it is the check below). So don't be put off by the following case of lintel 8 where the failure is characterized as tensile but the axial is negative (compression). This simply means that combination 3 whose data is listed is the combination with the worst ratio for in-plane testing while obviously the tensile is from another combination. What is the combination with the worst tensile strength? That will be seen when we go to put reinforcements to negate the tension problem in the lintels that require it. It is important to emphasize here that we should always address the tensile and then and with the appearance of the other checks we can move on to other reinforcements if required.